Health and Safety in the Workplace – New Safety Showers at ReAgent

As an expanding chemical manufacturer, ReAgent are dedicated to providing the most up-to-date facilities to ensure we maintain standards and comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act. The fact that working with chemicals can present potential hazards to employees is unavoidable. What we can control, though, are the procedures and equipment we put in place to dodge any serious injuries.

Continuous Improvement

Those keeping up-to-date with ReAgent’s latest developments will know that we’ve been making a few changes to the manufacturing area lately. One of the larger investments included knocking down one of the platforms in the factory, as part of our renovation to improve the layout of our factory and increase productivity. You can see a time lapse video of the demolition of the platform here.

The platform that has been demolished contained our old safety showers (the two towers can be seen on either side of the platform in the time lapse video), and so the safety showers were knocked down in the process.

Despite the fact that ReAgent has an impeccable safety record and so far these showers haven’t needed to be used, we installed more modern replacements in order to maintain standards and ensure the safety of employees. Located in units 16 and 18, the updated safety showers are dual showers – as well as a powerful, overhead water stream, they have a built-in eye wash and hand wash.

In short, the new showers are an improvement. The only problem is that they operate from the mains water supply, so are a bit cold at the moment!

The new safety showers contain an eye wash

The showers also feature a handwash

Essential Equipment

Upon contact, some chemicals can take just seconds to penetrate the skin, so it’s crucial that all employees know where the safety showers are, how to get to them quickly and how to use them. Our safety showers are vital first aid and should be used immediately after any contact with dangerous chemicals to avoid the effect becoming more serious.

We have two safety showers positioned throughout the factory, so workers are never too far away from them. They’re also very simple to operate – if you get any chemicals or other dangerous materials on your skin, simply stand underneath the shower and pull the cord.

Amongst others, here are some reasons the showers may be used:

To dilute chemicals that may have been exposed to employees

To warm or cool eyes or body, because of temperature change due to chemical exposure

To irrigate the eyes and skin of chemicals

To extinguish fire on clothing or the body

This video is provided by Safety is Simple and gives some more information on what safety showers are used for and how to use them.

Health and Safety at Work

Installing safety showers is a legal requirement for all chemical firms, due to the vast amount of potential hazards involved in working in the chemical industry. These hazards are outlined here by our Systems Manager, Graham Bayliss.

Posted by: Amy Hawthorne

After graduating from Lancaster University in 2013, Amy joined ReAgent in early 2014 as a Marketing Assistant. She is responsible for creating regular blogs and managing ReAgent's social media accounts, as well as producing video content as part of our online marketing plan. Read more posts by Amy »